- Motor War Car
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Simms' 1902 Motor War Car.
Simms' Motor War Car was the first armoured car ever built.
It was designed by F.R. Simms and a single prototype was ordered in April 1899[1] It was built by Vickers, Sons & Maxim of Barrow on a special Coventry-built Daimler chassis[1] with a German-built Daimler motor[1].
Because of difficulties, including a gearbox destroyed by a road accident, that arose during completion the prototype was not finished by Vickers until 1902[1] when the Boer War was over. The vehicle was an improvement over Simms' earlier design known as Motor Scout which was the first armed (but not armoured) vehicle powered by a petrol engine.
The vehicle had Vickers armour 6 mm thick and was powered by a four cylinder 3.3 litre[1] 16 hp Cannstatt Daimler engine giving it a maximum speed of around 9 miles per hour (14.5 km/h). The armament, consisting of two Maxim guns, was carried in two turrets with 360° traverse. Some sources also mention a single QF 1 pounder pom-pom.[2][3]
Fully equipped it was 28 feet (8.5 m) overall with a beam of 8 feet (2.4 m) , a ram at each end, two turrets and two guns and "capable of running on very rough surfaces".[1]
It had a crew of four. Simms' Motor War Car was presented at the Crystal Palace, London, in April 1902.[4]
Another armoured car of the period was the French Charron-Girardot-Voigt 1902, presented at the Salon de l'Automobile et du cycle in Brussels, on 8 March 1902.[5]
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f Lord Montagu and David Burgess-Wise Daimler Century ; Stephens 1995 ISBN 1 85260 494 8
- ^ Macksey, Kenneth (1980). The Guinness Book of Tank Facts and Feats. Guinness Superlatives Limited. pp. 256. ISBN 0851122043.
- ^ Tucker, Spencer (1999). The European Powers in the First World War. Routledge. pp. 816. ISBN 081533351X. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=gv3GEyB19wIC&pg=PA65&lpg=PA65&dq=%22Motor+War+Car%22&source=web&ots=JqgaStq67G&sig=6x8oCdFDRrwPo7uBCIk47aipCyw&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result.
- ^ Armoured Fighting Vehicules of the World, Duncan, p.3
- ^ Gougaud, p.11, L'Aube de la Gloire, Les Autos-Mitrailleuses et les Chars Français pendant la Grande Guerre, 1987, Musée des Blindés, ISBN 2904255028.
References
- Armoured Fighting Vehicules of the World Volume I, Cannon Books, 1998, ISBN 1899695028
External links
Categories:- Armoured cars of the United Kingdom
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